Improvement in folding carriage-tops



C. W. BLA CKMAN.

FOLDING CARRIAGE TOP.

No.175,412. Patented March 28,1878.

am @W N.PETER5, PHOTO-LITHOGRAPNER. WASHINGTON. D, C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

CARLOS W. BLACKMAN, OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO DURHAM &WOOSTER, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN FOLDING CARRIAGE-TOPS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 175,4l2, dated March28, 1876; application filed January 24, 1876. 1

. I do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with theaccompanying drawin gs and the letters of reference marked thereon, tobe a full, clear, and 'exact description of the same, and which saiddrawings constitute part of this specification, and represent a sideview of the front portion of a carriage.

This invention relates to an improvement in that class of carriages inwhich the front portion of the top is made removable, as in couplets andsimilar constructions, the object being to open the front substantiallythe same as if the top be removed, and yet with out separating the topentirely from the body; and it consists in constructing the front postswith joint-s, so that they may be doubled and carry the front portion ofthe top down forward of, and close to, the door'posts.

A is the stationary part of the door-post, to which is hinged a, secondpart, B, as at a, and to that a third part, 0, as at b, the hingedjoints being the first upon the outside, and the second upon the inside,the front section 'D of the top made fast to the, upper end ot'the partC, and so that when set up the three parts form the front post, but whendesired to open the front, the meeting-ends of the parts B C are pressedtbrward,-doubling those two parts down and forward, so as to bring thetop down to near the upper end of the stationary part A of the post, andin rear of thedrivers seat, as shown, where it is out of the way and noinconvenience, but yet so attached that in case the front is required tobe closed the top may be raised by reversing the operation, and when setup the joints secured by suitable hooks, bolts, or other device.

In some cases it may be desirable or necessary to turn the drivers seatforward in order to fold or set up the front. In that case the top ofthe seat is hung at the forward edge, so that it may be turned over, asdenoted in broken lines.

By this construction the inconvenience of entirely removing the front isavoided, and

though out of the way for all practical pur-, poses is always presentwhen itis desirable to have the front closed.

1 do not Wish to be understood as broadly claiming a divided door-postof a carriage CARLOS W. BLAOKMAN.

Witnesses:

Jo1IN E. EARLE, CLARA BROUGHTON.

